Supermarket giant Tesco has stopped delivering to a remote Highland community – but vans continue to drive through it to get to other rural destinations, an angry resident has claimed.
The situation at Strathnaver in Sutherland has been described as a “farcical pantomime”.
Steve Bernard, 61, a full-time carer for his 90-year-old mother, has repeatedly complained to Tesco about the delivery service provided in the north by its Wick store.
The supermarket chain has informed him they have withdrawn the Strathnaver route. He said they blamed it on the impact on driver hours.
But Mr Bernard told The Press and Journal: “You can imagine my shock when a Tesco delivery van later passed my house.
“I stopped the van and asked the driver where he had been delivering. He happily told me he’d just made a drop at Altnaharra, some 13 miles south of my address.
“So Tesco vans still appear to be driving up and down the Strath, it’s just that they won’t now stop at our houses.
“The Tesco customer care is like a farcical pantomime.”
Mr Bernard has struggled to get a regular delivery service to his home, and on one occasion was asked to meet a van outside a public toilet several miles from his home to collect his groceries.
He added: “They have officially stopped delivering to the Strath so I am left with a 90-mile round trip, which is very difficult because of my caring commitment to my mother.”
A Tesco spokesman said Strathnaver was not now in the postcode catchment area for deliveries, adding: “Strathnaver is not in the catchment and deliveries here stopped.
“However, we have been working with the customer to try to help a find a delivery option, including looking for addresses which are in our delivery catchment.
“We have, by exception, tried to help out the customer and made some deliveries to the customer in Strathnaver, but this isn’t possible on a regular or ongoing basis.
“Hence we have tried to work with the customer to find a solution in Bettyhill, which is in the catchment.”
He was unable to explain why the vans were still travelling through the community to get to Altnaharra, which is further away from the Wick store.